


A Collection of Dreams

by Scriptor_Bellum



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Handplates, I'll try to give a warning in the notes of each chapter for what's gonna be disturbing in it, Undertale AU - Handplates, but in general this IS a Handplates thing so there are gonna be disturbing themes, handplates AU, the archive warning for violence is gonna come in later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-03 18:08:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8724754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scriptor_Bellum/pseuds/Scriptor_Bellum
Summary: They only really have each other... and her. She's the only other person down here; the only person who stands a chance at either holding the doctor back or being able to comfort them.If what they have is a family, it's not a conventional one by any means. But maybe there's going to be a silver lining that shows up out of nowhere on this dark cloud.Whatever the case, they can dream.[Gaster/OC, not the focus most of the time though. Based in the Handplates AU by Zarla. A bunch of drabbles/ficlets/vignettes/whatever-you-wanna-call-'ems. The OC's name is Corsiva, named after the Monotype Corsiva font. These ficlets will definitely be out of order, during different points in the AU... you'll probably be able to figure out roughly when they take place by how old Sans and Pap seem in each one. Enjoy them and leave a comment if you'd like!]





	1. What's in a Name?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Undertale AU - Handplates](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/244762) by Zarla. 



> Hello, everyone! This isn't my first time writing for Undertale, but it is my first time posting on AO3 even though I've had this account for a while and just never done anything with it. ^^'
> 
> Anyhoo, this bunch of ficlet-thingies will be centered around Gaster, Papyrus, Sans, and my skeleton OC Corsiva - based in the Handplates AU by Zarla. Check it out if you don't know about it, the art is gorgeous and the story is full of angst! c:
> 
> Enjoy, and remember to comment if you liked them!!

He was probably signing to her, but all the two subjects could hear was his normal garbled language… though they knew it well enough now to be able to translate it. ‘You did _what?!_ ’

It didn’t matter how ‘okay’ the day had been so far; when the two subjects heard Corsiva arguing with Dr. Gaster, everything melted into fear. The brothers held each other tightly, afraid that one day, he might actually do something to her. Aside from each other, the technician was the only bright spot they had in this place. What would they do without her, or without each other?

Luckily, if the way she was dishing out insults back at the doctor was any indication, she’d be able to hold her own against him.

“Well, it’s not like _you_ were going to give them names, now, were you?” Oh, they could just imagine her now. Fists on her hips, violet eyes glaring holes into her husband’s skull. Even Papyrus, as much as he hoped Gaster wasn’t all bad, didn’t object to hearing Corsiva defend both them as well as her decisions. “They’re _people,_ Gaster. I refuse to call them Subject 1 and Subject 2 for one more day.”

A low growl left the other skeleton, although how much real anger was behind it was debatable. It sounded more like worn-out frustration. ‘Corsiva, look. You know I love you, but we’ve gone over this. If you name them, you start getting attached! You won’t want to let go!’

“You mean _you’re_ afraid of getting attached, so you don’t want _me_ to get attached either. Well, here’s a big news flash for you, _honey:_ I was attached to them before they even actually came into existence.” The doorknob shook, and the young skeletons could very easily hear the technician’s bones rattling irascibly. “So here’s something for you to mull over while I’m gone – do you even know me as well as you _think_ you do?”

With that, Corsiva came hurrying out of the door, and just barely held herself back from slamming it shut. Even that was probably for the children’s benefit, because the way her eye sockets trembled and her jaw shook seemed to suggest that she was about to cry. As young as the two were, they could still see that all Gaster’s talking about her bond with them as if it were a bad thing was stressing her out. Papyrus was the one to speak up first, his voice sounding uncharacteristically small. “I’m sorry… Miss Corsiva… I’m sorry he yelled at you…”

“Oh–!” It was like she hadn’t noticed they were even there until he spoke. Which was odd in itself, because the door to the other part of the lab was only a few steps away from their shared cell. “Oh, no, Papy, sweetheart… it’s not your fault.”

Too little too late, unfortunately. The taller child’s eye sockets were already welling up with tears. “B-But he yelled at you because of _us!_ ”

A scoff came from the technician, and she pressed her hand to their cell lock for just long enough to squeeze herself inside. (As much as she hated keeping them caged up, she also didn’t want them getting away. The world beyond the lab was scary and dangerous, and they weren’t ready.) “No, he didn’t. He yelled at me because he doesn’t want to think about the fact that you’re more than experiments.” When she knelt down, all it took was a brief outstretching of her arms for Papyrus to run toward her. She caught him and held him tightly, her browbones creasing together. “What he says and does is not your fault. Do you understand me? You are _not_ responsible for what someone else does, Papyrus. Never, ever.”

“how come you stay with him, anyway?” Sans mumbled, padding over toward her so he could be with both of them. It was a mystery to him, honestly. Someone as nice as Corsiva shouldn’t have to deal with someone as awful as Gaster, even if he _was_ her husband. “you could do way better.”

The next thing that left her was a snort, in spite of everything that was happening. Her arm pulled Sans into the hug, although he was content to just relax against them rather than cling to her like his brother. “Oh, my God. Where did you learn to talk like that?”

“I dunno, it just seemed t’ make sense.”

“Mm.” Corsiva gave a kiss to Papyrus’ forehead, then one to Sans’. “My boys. Do you really want to know why I stay with Gaster?” Although Papyrus eagerly nodded, it didn’t seem like she really needed any prompting to continue. “Because… there _is_ good inside him. Somewhere. I know, because I’ve seen it. When I first married him, he had good inside him that was bursting him at the seams.”

The younger skeleton’s grip only tightened around her, his cheekbones leaning on her shoulder. “Where did it all go?”

There was a short, mirthless laugh that forced its way out of her, one hand patting at Papyrus’ back. “Oh, I’m not sure. You know, when you live with someone for a long time… sometimes it’s hard to notice that they’ve changed. Because you see them everyday, they don’t seem much different. There never was that one moment when he just… stopped showing all that good. It stopped gradually, and… I didn’t notice until it was gone completely.”

“That sounds horrible. Like… like you know somebody, and then… after a long time… you just… _don’t_ anymore. That sounds so… scary.” Papyrus was still holding onto her with everything he had in him, and it didn’t seem like he was ready to let go anytime soon. There were still tears in his eyes, though they were being slowly blinked away. “… Miss Corsiva?”

“Yeah, sweetie?”

His voice died for a moment. A few slow, deep, shaky breaths were drawn in, as if he were afraid to ask her whatever he wanted to ask. “C… Can you… can you promise us that you’re never going to be like him?”

“yeah,” Sans chimed in, startling her slightly. Rarely did he tack on his own additions to his brother’s requests. “you can’t _ever_ be like him.”

A small smile flashed across her jaw before she scooped the both of them up, sitting down on their bed with them in her lap. How could she say no to such cute little faces? No matter what she thought of Gaster – how much she still loved him, how much she knew that the man she married was inside there somewhere – these two needed that promise right now more than they needed her making excuses. “Oh, my goodness! Look at those big eye sockets!” she grinned. Another kiss was placed atop both of their skulls, her arms snuggling them close. “Oh, my. Oh. You’ve worn me down! I promise, my little _boneheads._ ”

The pun was enough to send Sans into a short fit of giggles, while Papyrus groaned and just buried himself further against Corsiva’s lab coat. “I can’t believe you said that, Miss Corsiva!!”

“Sorry, Papy!” she laughed, her bony fingers rubbing at the child’s back. It was pretty clear, though, that he didn’t mind it as much as he pretended to.

Sans, on the other hand, was busy crawling into Corsiva’s lap. This way he could be close to both his brother and their friend; it would make it easier to fall asleep. “you’re the best!”

Another small huff came from Papyrus, but when he looked up at the older skeleton, he was smiling. “Brother’s right about that, you know!”

“Aw, you two.” If only they could stay like this forever. She’d have to get up soon and get the two of them ready to go to sleep so that Gaster could head home… for now, she was just going to cherish this fleeting moment she had with them. “You’re the best, actually, but thank you.”

Corsiva had just closed her eye sockets when a loud yawn rose up from one of the brothers. Her eyes were on them in a second, seeing that it was from Papyrus. The two reasons it was easy to tell were that first of all, Sans was already fast asleep – and second of all, the taller of the two was currently breaking out in another yawn. “You’re probably right,” he murmured, nuzzling in against her.

“Hm? About what?”

“About Dr. Gaster. About there being good in him. I know there has to be…!” Another yawn interrupted him before he settled down, arms wrapped around her neck and eye sockets drifting closed. “Anyone who loves somebody as great as you… can’t be all bad…”


	2. Rain, Rain, Go Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place some time after the previous ficlet. This one deals with the skelebros being sick for the first time, and something that Corsiva says will come back to haunt her in the next ficlet. The boys are too observant for their own good, and _someone_ shouldn't beat herself up so much.
> 
>  **Warning:** Frequent mentions of illness, microorganisms, and a few mentions of ectoplasm-vomit in this ficlet. Tread carefully!

It wasn't often that it rained in Hotland.

The drops that pattered against the roof and on the walls seemed to follow the melody that Corsiva was humming. Both sounds were all that cut through the brothers’ drowsiness, which seemed worse than usual. All they could do was lie on the stiff bed on top of each other, their heads swimming, wheezing out small breaths. They’d woken up in the middle of the night like this, and so far Corsiva was unaware. Wasn’t that odd, though? She’d made it pretty clear that they could always call out to her if something was wrong or if they needed something…

Papers shuffled in her hands. Her eyes were glowing their normal purple, dull swords that pierced against the papers. Organization, organization. Her paramour was mad about organization… among other things. Peaceful moments like this, shortly before Gaster would arrive, were usually filled with the subjects’ chatter as well as her own rushing around. In the back of her mind, it struck her as strange that the two of them were being so quiet. Perhaps they were still asleep? After she finished this round of straightening up, she’d have to wake them up and give them something to eat. Once Gaster came in, they’d have to take turns sitting in the exam room. (Well, that was what _he_ called it. In an attempt to make Sans and Papyrus laugh, Corsiva had taken to calling it the torture chamber, and now it was a joke between them.)

It was only when a loud, breathless cough broke the silence that she was startled out of her structured mindset, her eyeglow flashing bright fuchsia. The cough seemed to go on forever, coupled with the sound of bones shaking, and a tiny voice gasped for air. There was _no one else_ in here right now, and on top of that, Gaster hid it from her if he was sick. That couldn’t have been him. Which only left two possibilities…

The papers were quickly abandoned on her desk as she hurried over to the brothers’ cell. They were piled against each other, awake but clearly tired; Papyrus’ cheeks were dusted orange, and Sans’ matched with blue. They looked too exhausted to even have their arms around each other, and _that_ scared her. “Boys!”

She opened the door with her hand, doing it as fast as she could even though they were in absolutely no shape to run away. “Oh, my God. Sans? Papyrus?” The first one she was able to pick up and hold against her ribcage was Sans. Little phalanges clutched at her coat, which was a worrying sign. Sans would usually accept her picking him up, but most of the time he didn’t try to hold onto her. Whether out of laziness or because he trusted her not to drop him, it was always something that made him seem independent in her eyes. To see him grasping at her and trying to keep himself secure was a shock. “Sans? Sans, baby, can you hear me?”

“mmmm… nn…” The same cough she’d heard before rattled him now, making him jump and twitch in her arms. The cerulean on his cheeks only seemed to intensify. His hands tightened as he tried to bury himself closer against her. “don’t… don’t feel… good…”

It was only a few seconds later that the front of her coat was covered in fluorescent cyan ectoplasm.

Crying was uncharacteristic for Sans, as far as Corsiva had ever seen. She’d only seen him cry once or twice, whereas Papyrus might be more prone to it. Right after throwing up on her, though, the smaller skeleton burst into tears. He was babbling unintelligibly, almost sounding like he had when he was much younger. There were only a few words she could catch – “sorry” and “no,” over and over, mainly. She hurried to hold him closer, rubbing his backbones in an attempt to soothe him. “Oh, Sans, no, it’s alright! It’s okay! Don’t cry!”

“no, no, no, nooooooo!” the little skeleton wailed, small hiccups escaping him in between. It was pretty clear that he thought he’d done something wrong by getting sick like that. It must have been especially hard on him that he’d gotten her all dirty, even though she didn’t mind at all. “don’t wanna… don’t…!”

To tell the truth, Corsiva was far more concerned about Sans’ health than she was about her lab coat being streaked with vomit. (It was a good thing that it didn’t happen to Gaster, though. He wouldn’t have been _nearly_ as nice about it.) Holding him close to her, it was impossible not to feel the heat radiating from him. This wasn’t a normal glow, nor should she be able to feel it unless he was trying to heal someone. Reflected in his eyeglow were tinges of pale green and indigo, a clear signal to the technician that in addition to feeling poorly, he was also scared. “Oh, Sans… it’s okay… I’m here…” She didn’t want to rock or bounce him in case that made him nauseous again, so she settled for just keeping up her caressing on his backbones. What could she do to make him feel better? Was Papyrus this ill, too? As drained as the younger skeleton seemed, it didn’t look like he was quite as riled up as his brother.

That wasn’t typical, either. Papyrus was almost always the one going a mile a minute and being agitated if something out of the ordinary happened. Yet he hadn’t even looked up toward her when she walked into their cell, when most of the time she’d be greeted with an enthusiastic hug… or, at least, a happy hello. “Papyrus?” Corsiva took a few slow steps toward the bed, not wanting to jostle Sans too much. When her phalanges made contact with Papyrus’ forehead, she winced in realization. He had a fever, too. “Oh, dear,” she muttered, moving to sit down and scoop Papyrus into her lap. He curled up against her immediately, a string of coughs not unlike his brother’s making his thin frame tremble. “It looks like neither of you are going to be doing any tests today.”

“No…?” Papyrus lifted his head up at that, although not very far. She couldn’t tell if that look on his face was just from being worn out, or if he was relieved. “No test…?” It sounded like he was afraid to actually say it out loud. As if the mere mention of it would be enough to snatch away any reprieve they had.

“Not today,” Corsiva sighed softly. Gaster wouldn’t be happy about her protecting them, but at least with Sans, her fears would be founded. As far as Papyrus went… it would be easy to argue that illness could render the tests inconclusive. Well, not easy… this was Gaster she was dealing with, after all. Explaining it as logically as possible would be good enough for him, though, and it was a good point. “You’re too sick to do any tests.”

Satisfied with the explanation, Papyrus let himself fall against her, his eye sockets blinking slowly. “Miss Corsiva… how get sick…?” And she knew he knew how to talk better than that. She _knew_ he could use complete sentences. Was he just too tired to remember how?

“Hm?” That hadn’t been a question she was expecting. Furthermore, how did she talk about microorganisms that caused disease without making it too complex for a child to understand? “Oh, well… there are a lot of ways you could have gotten sick. There are these little things called _germs_ everywhere, and if they get inside you, they can make you sick. Some people get sick from being out in the rain or snow, because it’s so cold that their bodies can’t take it. But, um… I think the thing that makes the most sense for how _you_ two got sick is that Gaster or I accidentally brought some germs in with us from outside. They’re so small that you can’t see them, so we didn’t know they were there. Sometimes they leave when we wash our hands and other thing, but… they must have been on something we didn’t wash.” Her hand shifted, reaching to pet the tips of her phalanges over the top of Papyrus’ skull. “I’m sorry, sweetbones. One of us got you sick.”

The little skeleton shook his head a few times, sniffling. “Uh uh… not your fault…” It seemed that he genuinely believed that, too. To him it didn’t seem to matter that them getting sick was a direct result of either her or Gaster failing to keep some random virus away from them. It only mattered that she was taking care of them.

Corsiva indulged herself for another moment, cradling the brothers close to her as if they were her own sick children. Finally, she stood up and gently deposited them down on their shared bed. Care was taken to ensure that they were nestled next to each other; being able to feel their sibling next to them would help them heal faster. The thing that would do them the most good right now was to sleep while she got some medicine – not that she thought they’d take it without a fight. “Try to rest, you two. I have to go get some things to help you feel better, but I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

Her fingers ghosted over both of their skulls before she headed out to collect everything she’d need to take care of them. She probably looked like a madwoman, racing around the lab as she made a mental checklist of what she should get. A thin blanket so they got the feeling of warmth but didn’t overheat… ice water to wipe them down with… some crackers for Papyrus and a cup of clear broth for Sans… maybe a thermometer, too. They were both burning up, and she needed to know just how high of a fever she was dealing with. If it was over a certain degree, she’d have to plunge them into an ice bath as an absolute last resort before going outside the lab for help. As unfortunate as it was, Gaster might not want her taking them outside, but his priorities had become skewed as of late. As for her, she’d rather risk the entirety of the Underground finding out about their illegal experimentation than risk one of the children dying of something that could have been stopped.

Whether her soul was pounding against her ribcage or it was just an illusion brought on by stress, she could barely dial the phone to call her husband. Bones quaked as she did so, and it felt like tears were welling up in her eye sockets. What good was she if she didn’t even notice whatever it was that got Sans and Papyrus sick? There wasn’t room for error like that! They barely had immune systems. Sans was fragile enough without being subjected to an infection. Despite Papyrus being healthier, it still wasn’t _necessary_ for him to be sick. If it wasn’t necessary, she shouldn’t have let it happen.

‘Corsiva? Are you there?’

She could barely choke out her words when she heard Gaster’s voice on the other end. She knew he wasn’t going to be happy about this, but the sound of his font was comforting enough. “Gaster… Sans… Papyrus… they’re sick… please get over here… please help…”

Before all her husband’s shocked ranting began, she already felt like a failure. All those boys needed was a mother to keep them safe. She tried so hard, and she couldn’t even do that right.


	3. Under the Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I should have been more careful with my wording._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A 'sequel' of sorts to the last ficlet. It's gonna hurt this time. >:D
> 
> Warnings for mild hypothermia, self-destructive behavior, a sort-of anxiety attack... I think that might be it. Tread lightly because one's full of angst!

Even though the brothers’ first illness passed without much incident, (although Gaster _did_ end up tossing the two in an ice bath to lower their fever, which the little skeletons did not care for one bit), it made Corsiva more anxious about interacting with them. They were like her sons. If she didn’t pay attention, she could get one of them killed. If that happened, she would never be able to forgive herself. Gaster didn’t make it out to have been her fault, but he also didn’t go out of his way to comfort her. When had his affection disappeared? Where was the man who would hold her, shush her, kiss her and rattle his bones against her and tell her everything was okay? Despite still loving him, she missed the way things used to be. The only person she could rely on for consolation now was herself.

They must have noticed how she’d drawn herself away from them. Maybe it would be easier if she wasn’t attached to them, like Gaster kept telling her. Maybe then she wouldn’t _care_ if something happened to them, and it wouldn’t completely shatter her. If she wasn’t attached to them, this guilt over something that should be minor wouldn’t eat her alive.

It was confusing to them. They were young, and didn’t understand why the woman they considered their mother was suddenly acting as if they were strangers. She’d promised she would never be like Gaster, didn’t she? It was puzzling; even Papyrus, who excelled at puzzles, couldn’t solve this conundrum. Papyrus was at least optimistic. _“She’s probably just busy! Oh, you just WAIT, brother. Any second now, she’ll take a break from her work, and come in here, and give us a BIG hug!”_ Sans… was less so. _“He finally did it, ya know. He got through to her. She’s not gonna come in here anymore.”_

Surely it was only a matter of time before push came to shove.

In all Sans’ cynicism, there was nothing he wanted more than to escape now. If their one light at the end of the tunnel was gone, what good was it here? They really did only have each other. Besides, if he escaped, maybe he could go somewhere cold. That was how she’d said some people could get sick, and with his already tenuous health, it was almost a sure thing for him. If he was sick, even if Gaster or Corsiva found him, they wouldn’t be able to make him do those tests. It wasn’t a very well thought out plan, but it was all he could really think of despite being pretty smart. He _was_ still just a kid.

Papyrus wouldn’t have thought it was a good idea even if he knew about it. That was why Sans didn’t tell him. He’d just grab Papyrus’ hand and make a break for it during bath time.

Corsiva was just as nonchalant toward them as she’d been the past week or so as she removed them from their cell and headed toward the bathroom with them. Even when Papyrus clung to her and begged for a hug, the most she gave him was a pat on the backbones. “Ready to get clean?” That was what she usually said when it was time to give them their bath. Tonight, it lacked the typical playfulness that was always in her voice.

“You gotta make the water just right,” Sans spoke up, grabbing at his brother’s hand.

Even though he was confused by the gesture, Papyrus clearly agreed with the actual statement. “YES! Last time it was too cold…”

A sigh hissed softly from between her teeth. “Last time was an ice bath. It was _supposed_ to be cold.” Regardless, though, she turned her back to them for a few seconds in order to turn the faucet’s hot water knob a bit more.

The way she said it made Sans feel like his ribs were cracking against his soul. Usually there would be some hint of a smile or maybe even an apology when she made a quip like that. This time, her voice was dull and sullen, as if she were talking to a wall. But now her back was turned. This was it – they could get away from her, and from Gaster, and they’d only have each other, and it would be _great_ like that. This was their chance.

Sans tightened this grip on Papyrus’ wrist, and took off running.

They were going to be free.

* * *

When Corsiva saw that there weren’t two little skeletons behind her anymore, _terrified_ didn’t even come close to describing her reaction. Her eyeglow cycled through a rainbow in a matter of barely a second, her gaze throwing itself all around the bathroom. But they weren’t there.

She checked everywhere inside the lab. Under desks, inside file cabinets and shelves, behind curtains, in every other cell, inside every single room that comprised the lab. Yet they were nowhere to be found. Were they playing some kind of game on her? If they were, Gaster’s cruelty had rubbed off on them.

By the time she ran out to the main room, tears were running down her cheekbones and staining the floor. “ _Sans! Papyrus!_ ” she cried, phalanges gripping the doorframe. Even that was just so her patellas wouldn’t buckle beneath her and send her crashing to the ground. Where were they? “Please come out now!” Her ribcage heaved with labored breaths, every fiber of her being scared to death of losing them. “This isn’t funny! You’re scaring me!”

God, how could she have turned her back on them, even for just a moment? Gaster had warned her not to; she knew well enough that they’d go for any escape they could. Furthermore, she knew better than to try and give them a bath at the same time. There were only so many hands she had to grab at them should they try to run off.

“Papyrus… Sans…!” Her teeth ground together, clicking inside her jaw, and her eyes gave another frenzied glance around the room. How could they have gotten out? The doors were all…

Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no!

The door that caught her eye was wide open, leading out into the main lab. The doors there were motion-activated and couldn’t be locked. When she ran out into the area, she did a thorough check, but in her heart she knew they weren’t there. Once they discovered that they could get out, they weren’t going to hesitate. “Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God!” They could be anywhere by now. Despite how frail they looked, they were fast.

More tears flooded her vision as she rushed outside, searching for any sign of the brothers. All the while, her mind cursed her own stupidity.

_How could I leave a door unlocked?!_

* * *

Where were they? Sans wasn’t sure, and Papyrus certainly didn’t know. All Sans really knew was that they’d run for as long as they could, as fast as they could. They’d passed the entirety of the sweltering heat directly outside the lab. Then they’d gone through a place where water dripped from anything and everything. Now they had crossed some border into land that was completely white. The air seemed to freeze them as they tried to go on, making their bones clack and feel brittle. Their breath came out in visible puffs. Icy wind was whipping past their eye sockets, making tears form. Despite himself, Sans was the first one to start shivering, and sit down to rest. He wanted to keep going, but it was just so _cold._

The glittering, milky stuff that covered the ground was even colder, and it melted to liquid against his bones. “Sans!” In an instant, Papyrus was down in the same position – bent over, knelt in the snow. It chilled him to the bone, too, although he pressed on. “Are you okay…?”

His teeth chattered, the cold rolling around inside his stomach, making him feel sick. “Y-Yeah… I’m fine… just fine, bro…” He laid back, arms reaching to wrap around his brother. They should at least cuddle up with each other, right? Maybe that would keep them from getting _too_ sick. Their paper-thin hospital-style gowns didn’t offer much in the way of protecting them, after all. “A-Are… are _you_ ok… okay?”

“M… Mhm…” His own body had begun to shake, and he decided to lie down next to Sans. The hint was taken, thin arms quickly wrapped around his brother’s body as Sans’ returned the gesture. “It’s… c-cold here… huh…?”

A nod in reply. “W-We’ll only rest here a m-minute, okay?”

Both of their eye sockets drooped closed as they let out matching breaths of exhaustion.

“R… Right, brother! Only a m… minute…”

* * *

The state she found them in was appalling. Considering just how many things Corsiva had seen in her life, that was saying something.

She found them in Snowdin, and it broke her heart that they’d managed to get _this_ far away. Both of them were buried in a small mound of snow, clinging to each other. If it weren’t for the uncontrollable way they were shaking, she would have thought they were dead.

“Oh, my God! _Oh, my God!!_ ” What else could she say? Her sons were half frozen to death, and it was all her fault. She dropped to her knees, her fingers clawing at the snow in an effort to dig them out. Her vision blurred, prompting her to scrub away the tears before continuing. God, how could she have let this happen? “Sans? Papyrus? Oh, God… please talk to me! Please!” They were cold to the touch, hypothermic, and if she couldn’t take care of them, they would die. There wouldn’t be any living with the fact that she’d indirectly killed her children. She was supposed to protect them and keep them safe… they needed her. They needed _someone_ to do that for them. They’d counted on her to protect them from Gaster and any other dangers that might hurt them.

Another time she had failed. Except this time, it might be fatal.

Once most of the snow was off, Corsiva scooped the two of them up in her arms, holding them tightly to her chest. Try as she might to glow emerald, healing wasn’t her specialty. Maybe it warmed them up a little bit, but it wasn’t going to be enough. “Sans? Papyrus? Oh, God, oh, God, please talk to me… please… please…”

Papyrus’ arms were clinging to her once he heard her voice; all he could manage in the way of speech was a dry cough followed by a series of wheezes.

Sans, meanwhile, was opening up his eye sockets slowly. He seemed surprised to see her, and a few ragged huffs produced a weak cloud of fog from his teeth. “C… Cor…” A loud hacking cough interrupted him, rattling his whole body. As much as it seemed like he wasn’t sure he wanted to be near her, he moved to press himself against her chest. “Why… y-you… us…”

“Shhh, shh, baby. Oh, my poor little darlings. Oh, my God…” After shifting both of them a bit, she’d managed to get them loosely wrapped up inside her coat. Even though it was a far cry from a thick blanket, it would have to be enough until she got them back to the lab. Her tears were beginning to freeze on her cheekbones, crystallizing into sorrow-filled sparkles. “Sans? Just… just rest. But don’t fall asleep, okay? We’re going back to the lab, and I’m going to get you warmed up.”

Even though he might have been opposed to it, there wasn’t enough strength in him to do anything but huddle under her coat.

* * *

What was she going to tell Gaster?

The morning wouldn’t come for quite a few hours yet, but it wasn’t like Corsiva was going to get any sleep. Now that the boys’ temperatures had returned to almost normal, they could sleep, and Papyrus was curled up in her lap doing just that. They’d both been shivering for some time; that was a good thing, though. It meant that the hypothermia wasn’t very severe. Thankfully, they couldn’t have been out there for more than twenty minutes or so. Much longer, and their condition would have been a lot worse.

She would have rather sat with them in their cell as much as she could. Once she’d stripped them of their wet clothes and wrapped them in blankets, though, she had to leave so she could get them warm drinks (after asking them to cough so she knew they could swallow) and grab a thermometer so their temperatures could be monitored. While it wasn’t a struggle convincing Papyrus to slowly sip at a mug of hot water and lemon, it had to practically be forced down Sans’ throat. That wasn’t exactly a surprise – he was still shivering, and didn’t seem too happy with her to boot. It would probably take him longer to recover from this than it would Papyrus. Besides, Sans had always been the stubborn one who didn’t trust Gaster, and by extension, seemed like he was always second-guessing any possible trust he had for Corsiva.

She couldn’t bring herself to let either of them go after everything was settled. One arm draped over Papyrus’ spine, phalanges petting over his cranium every so often. The other arm held Sans, and she was lucky that he was rather complacent. He’d likely be squirming otherwise. For now, he allowed her to hug him tightly against her ribs, listening to her soul beat slowly against his skull. It looked like he was getting sleepy, yet still shivering. She wasn’t willing to let him sleep just yet, though. Once he was warm enough that he wasn’t shivering and could talk to her normally again, then she’d feel comfortable letting him sleep.

Tears kept falling from her eyes, and they hadn’t returned back to their normal appearance yet. It was a small difference; the eyeglow around her pupil burning with a ring of faded gold. It hurt so much to think that she could have lost her children because she’d been careless. After roughly a week of trying to keep herself from babying them, all she wanted to do was hold them as close as she could and kiss them until her teeth hurt. What was she _thinking?_ It didn’t matter what Gaster thought about her feelings for them. Every moment she could spend with them should be spent showing her love and treating them like the precious things they were.

What startled her out of her self-loathing was a quiet voice that suddenly spoke up. “W-Why… why’d you… come… looking f-for us…? Y-You don’t like us anymore…”

“Wha…” When she looked down, Sans’ big eyes were filled up with a lavender glow, tears spilling over the bottoms of his eye sockets. A violent shudder rocked him against her in symphony with a deep gasp. His eyes squeezed shut as she pulled him closer, pressing her teeth against the top of his skull. “Sans… I…” It felt like she’d been punched right in the soul. Had all her distant, nervous behavior made them think that she didn’t love them? That out of nowhere, she’d just stopped caring about them? It was stupid of her not to consider how that must have come across to a child. “That’s not true. I love you two so much.”

Her own eye sockets filled with a fresh round of tears; she held Sans as close as she possibly could without hurting him further. “I could have lost you… oh, God. You two are what gives my life meaning. I couldn’t live without you.”

She heard him swallow _hard,_ and his shaking hands grabbed at her coat. Although it looked like he wanted to believe her, she knew she’d sent the children mixed signals. That hadn’t been fair. Her bond with them wasn’t just about _her_ feelings. It was about theirs, too. Trying to cut herself off from them like that had been incredibly selfish. “… Then how come…? I mean… you stopped huggin’ us… an’ talkin’ to us…” He rubbed his face against her in an effort to scrub away his tears, and a small hiccup could be heard. “You stopped bein’… our… y… you know…”

Her arm shifted so that she could pat his vertebrae – it wasn’t a surefire calm-down technique for him, but it was all she could think to do. “Sans… oh, baby, I’m so sorry. After you were sick, I… I got scared. It made me afraid… knowing that I could have gotten you so sick… because I’m supposed to keep you safe…”

“P… Pap told you it wasn’t your fault…” His shivering had _finally_ begun to subside. He was still sniffling, although she couldn’t tell if it was from being cold or from crying now. “You don’t have t’ be scared… w-we were okay…” Tears splashed down on her lab coat, his little finger bones holding on tight. Well… at least it seemed that he trusted her again. “We wanted you…”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” At this point, Corsiva wasn’t quite sure if she was ever going to stop crying. All of it was her fault. She was the reason they got out, and the reason they _wanted_ to get out. The cold ball of guilt that formed in her stomach was something she wasn’t sure she’d ever get rid of. “It _won’t_ happen again. I promise. Things are going to go back to the way they were, okay?”

The small nod he gave was barely perceptible, although she caught it anyway. “Mhm…” Maybe she really had gotten his trust back, or maybe he was just too tired to be paranoid of the world. (Someone so young as him shouldn’t have such a pessimistic outlook… she knew she and Gaster were to blame for that.)

They both stayed silent for a moment, breathing in sync, before the older skeleton gave Sans the slightest jostle she could to make sure he was still awake. “Sans? Why did you… why did you go so far? How did you get from here to Snowdin in such a short time?”

“Uhm… is… that’s where we were? Snowdin? Heh… that’s… that’s a funny name.” A weak, drowsy laugh left him, then he blinked slowly a few times. “I… dunno. We were runnin’… and I just kept goin’… dunno how.”

“Okay. But _why?_ ” While she was indeed curious about how they’d managed to cover so much ground in so little time, the real question was why they’d gone that far in the first place. If they just wanted to escape to _somewhere,_ why not hide in Hotland as soon as they’d gotten out of the lab? Why did they go all the way to Snowdin?

The way his browbones curved down and the way he looked away from her were clear enough signals that he was ashamed about the reason. “… I didn’t know Pap w-would… get _this_ sick.”

Her eye sockets widened as she stared down at him. She wanted to burst into tears right there. So he’d been _trying_ to get sick like they’d been a month ago? Why on Earth would he want to be sick again? He’d told her he absolutely hated it, and Papyrus felt the same. “Sans… oh, my God. Why were you trying to make yourself sick?”

Still he refused to look at her, even though he snuggled against her ribs. “… Y-You said that… if we were sick… we wouldn’t have to d… do the tests. So I thought… m… maybe if we got sick again… maybe y-you and the doctor would… just…” A harsh breath passed his teeth, his eye flashing lilac swirled with magenta. It had to be frustrating for him, not being able to physically communicate what he was feeling with only his eyeglow. “… It was a stupid idea. i-it wouldn’t ever happen…”

Tears welled up again, and she hugged him even closer. It was her duty to make sure he would never, ever feel the need to do something like this again. As horrible as Gaster’s tests were, getting out of them wasn’t worth something like this that could have ended in his death had it been any worse. And dragging Papyrus into a plan like this seemed cruel for Sans… until she thought about the fact that Papyrus was the stronger one, and Sans was trying to get them both out of having to endure Gaster’s experiments. “… Sans, baby.”

“… Mmhn…?”

“You can’t do this.” In that moment, he reminded her of Gaster, and that was horrifying. Gaster’s dangerously self-destructive tendencies had gone farther than this before – smoking, not sleeping, punching those damn holes in his hands. Having Sans go down that same path of sabotaging himself wasn’t an option, especially with how weak he already was. Everything that Gaster had gone through, and possibly worse… he survived it, but Sans wouldn’t. “Sans, y… you can’t. This… this could have killed you. If I didn’t find you when I did, if you’d laid there for a little while longer…”

Her voice cracked. The last thing she wanted to imagine was her son being _dead._ An image of him lying lifeless in the snow with his frozen smile and blacked-out eye sockets was now burned into her mind, ready to haunt her forever. Her arm slipped from Papyrus, encircling Sans so could hold him even closer. If there was a way she could have melted him into herself, she would have. “Please, Sans…” A few of her tears dropped down against his skull, and she could feel his arms shuffling around in the blanket to reach out to her. The tone of her voice had dropped to barely above a whisper, because she wasn’t sure if she could speak any louder without breaking down. “Please promise me you won’t do anything like this again.”

Despite the fact that he knew going out in the cold would make him sick, it was clear that he was still too young to fully grasp, before she’d told him, that she could have died because he spent too long in the cold. What was also clear, however, that he knew how upset and frightened this had made his mother. Even if it was just for her sake, he could promise to be so much more careful about the situations he put himself in. “… I-I promise…”

The sigh of relief she gave was so palpable, Sans thought maybe even the sleeping Papyrus could feel it.

* * *

When Gaster arrived the next morning, the sight that greeted him was his wife inside the subjects’ cell, cradling the two of them against her chest; wrapped in blankets, with two dirtied mugs on the metal bed, tear tracks on her cheekbones and dark lines under her eye sockets. The look in her eyes was one that he knew well, prompting him to rush over and immediately ask what was wrong.

“… They got out last night. Made it all the way to Snowdin and laid in the snow for almost twenty minutes. I had to warm them up. They’re asleep, but they’re okay now.” The last sentence she rasped out was what really got him: “Please don’t take them away from me.”

So he didn’t.


End file.
